Lo Scoglio di Frisio, Naples

Lo Scoglio di Frisio on the Mergellina waterfront in Naples is a seafood institution that has served the city's fish-eating bourgeoisie since 1955 from a prime position on the seafront boulevard below the Posillipo hill. The restaurant takes its name from 'lo scoglio' — the rock — a reference to its original waterfront position, and the seafront Mergellina setting gives diners views across the bay towards Vesuvius and Capri to the south. The kitchen specialises in the classic repertoire of Neapolitan seafood cooking: frittura di paranza (a plate of small mixed fish and shellfish lightly battered and fried in olive oil), spaghetti alle vongole veraci (with the small, briny true clams from the Gulf of Naples), and oysters from the Fusaro lagoon west of Naples, which have been farmed since Roman times in the shallow volcanic waters near Cuma. The spaghetti alle vongole is the dish that demands comparison across the many Neapolitan restaurants serving it: Frisio's version uses the true vongola verace (rather than the less flavoursome Manila clam now widespread) and is cooked in the traditional bianco method with white wine, garlic, parsley, and olive oil, producing a clean, briny, and intensely flavoured result. The Mergellina neighbourhood is a pleasant area of Naples away from the centro storico tourist concentration, with a seafront promenade popular with Neapolitans in the evening.